Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, gave a rare interview recently where he talked about that incredible historic event. There are a lot of extraordinary stories from that mission but there was one thing he said in particular that caught my attention.
He was talking about the special moment on one of those first moon walks when he and his fellow astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, placed space program patches on the moon's surface beside the flag, in honor of those astronauts who gave their lives in the quest to make it to the moon.
The patches were from both the U.S. and Soviet space programs.
“We recognized that we wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for our competitors in the Soviet Union,” he said. “It was actually the competition that made both of our programs able to do the things that they achieved.”
A powerful lesson
That's a powerful lesson. Dentists don't often get to experience competition directly. There are other dentists in your area, but you seldom get a glimpse into what they're doing; for the most part you each work on your own “island.”
I'm not saying cutthroat competition among dentists would be a healthy thing, but the spirit of competition that encourages you to measure yourself against others can be a very good thing.
Energizing and inspiring
I see it in the dentists who want to model themselves after Frank Spear. I see it in the participants in our hands-on programs who learn so much more just from being around each other. Face it, it's just energizing and inspiring to be around other dentists who are determined to take their skills to a higher level. It makes you want to be better.
As Neil Armstrong and his colleagues (and competitors) proved, if you welcome the idea of being challenged by the best people in your field, you can accomplish some pretty incredible things.